Early Town Meeting-Selectman-Manager Charters
This document is reprinted with permission from "The Manager Plan in Maine" published by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy. Copies of the complete book may be obtained by calling the Center at (207) 581-1646.
In 1927, the town of Camden adopted a special charter and became the first Maine town to apply the manager concept to the town meeting-selectmen framework. For two years prior to the adoption of the charter, Camden had experimented with a town agent appointed by the selectmen and serving in various capacities as designated by the selectmen. (See the following discussion of the town agent.)
Early interest of Camden residents in manager government apparently stemmed from dissatisfaction with the cost and performance of town services under the selectmen. A news story attributes particular disenchantment with snow removal and sewer maintenance services. It charged that the town horses had spent most of the year in their stalls while a huge backlog of grading and filling remained to be done (Forster, 1925).
In February, 1924, Ralph O. Brewster -- a prominent member of the Portland Committee of 100 and a former state senator destined to be elected governor in 1925 --addressed the Camden Board of Trade on the workings of the council-manager plan in Portland (Forster, 1925). Subsequently, the president of the Board of Trade suggested an experiment with a seven-member board of selectmen which would hire a manager. There was editorial support for this approach by the Camden Herald (Forster, 1925), and items were inserted in the town meeting warrant to establish a town agent to be appointed by the selectmen and to function pursuant to rules established by the board of selectmen (Forster, 1926). After two years of success under the agent, the town ratified a special act of the legislature which made the selectmen-manager system permanent.
The Camden charter vested the administration of the town (except school matters) in a seven-member board of selectmen, elected at large. The selectmen serve as overseers of the poor and road commissioners. Also elected are a clerk, treasurer, collector of taxes, assessors, auditor and a school committee. The selectmen appoint a manager who in turn appoints other town employees, subject to confirmation by the board of selectmen.
The manager is administrative head of town government, responsible to the selectmen for the administration of all departments under its control. The manager's duties include: acting as purchasing agent, seeing that laws and ordinances are enforced, making appointments and removals, and fixing the compensation of appointees. From 1927 to 1939, eleven other Maine towns adopted special act town meeting-selectmen-manager charters similar to the Camden charter.
In 1939, Houlton voters adopted a special act of the legislature which established the town meeting-council-manager form of government. Previously, in 1934, Houlton voters turned down a similar charter. The adoption of the 1939 version was preceded by a highly organized public information campaign under Chamber of Commerce auspices. Campaign techniques utilized included: 1) filing citizen petitions with the legislature to lend support to the passage of the special act charter, 2) organizing a "Committee of 100," representative of over 25 local organizations, to actively campaign for adoption of the charter, and 3) providing complimentary transportation of voters to the polls (Forster, 1939). It provided for the election at large of a seven-member council vested with powers of selectmen, overseers of the poor, and assessors. In 1943, a unique feature was added to the charter. The council was vested with power to enact "such ordinances as are authorized by Chapter 80 of the Revised Statutes...under such rules and procedures as the voters of the Town of Houlton may legally adopt" (Houlton Charter, Section 6). This was the first transfer of the ordinance power from the town meeting to the council in a Maine municipality which still retained the town meeting. The town council appointed the clerk, treasurer, tax collector and health officer. The manager was designated as road commissioner and purchasing agent and was responsible for the administration of all departments.